SOME THOUGHTS ON WAYS TO MAKE WRITING EASIER English 1101 Karen Roop

Grammar…  …comes at the end, then proofreading after that  While you’re writing the first drafts, turn off the grammar and spell checker on Word. They inhibit free thinking, brainstorming, freewriting and are too distracting.  Once you’ve written the essay and done some of your own proofreading and editing, then turn Word’s spell checker/grammar checker back on and see where you still have issues.  This will keep you from relying too much on Word for spelling errors.

Nothing to say…  When you say that you run out of ideas or start making stuff up (fluff) that comes from not generating enough ideas/text.  Rarely will you write in any setting just from what’s in your mind at any given moment.  Learn a few tricks to generate text like prewriting strategies we’ve been trying:  Freewriting  Listing  Drafting  Outlining

Vocabulary – Bigger is better!  Increase vocabulary by marking words you don’t know when reading, then  look them up, writing out the definition  This locks them into your memory.  If you can use them in your writing – even better.

Brain Freeze  Linked to inadequate vocabulary  is the frustration over not being able to think of a word while writing  causes you to lose focus and forget what you’re writing.

Brain Freeze continued  My solution:  If I can’t think of a word within just a couple of seconds, I force myself to just type a blank line where the word should go and continue with the sentence. I don’t look up words at this point.  Then, I come back to it when I’m going over the first draft. Often the word doesn’t even matter because I have changed the sentence or rearranged the paragraphs, etc.  But typing the line keeps me writing, and I don’t lose focus.

Staying on Topic  Outlining may be a good way to keep you from straying off topic –  Doesn’t have to be a formal outline – can be as simple as a few notes on what you want to cover – what are the important points.  Question? should we work through at least one of our essay projects with an outline?

Outlining?  A Strategy:  Use the outline sections as topic sentences in the paragraphs.  Make all sentences in that paragraph link to topic sentence.  Use the last sentence in paragraph to introduce the subject of the next paragraph.  Keeps you on topic and adds coherence.

Beginnings  It’s difficult to come up with the perfect beginning paragraph or even the perfect beginning sentence – so don’t!  Don’t start with the introduction.  Start by writing some version of your thesis statement on the top of the page.  Then, if you have a few notes about where you want to go or even just some freewriting, start with your first point or the first idea you have.  Get writing and keep writing until all of that is exhausted.

Beginning continued  Go back and look at what you’ve done and see if/where you need to rearrange, add stuff, etc.  Figure out if you’ve stuck to your topic, if your paragraphs deal with one controlling idea or if you need to break them up some more.

Still more on beginning…  This is where even an minimal outline of areas you want to cover will help.  Did you cover all the areas?  Do you need to freewrite some more?  Do you need to do some more research?  Where can you add a quote from your research that will reinforce your point?

Conclusions  Should not just restate the introduction  answers the “so what” question  link them to the bigger picture  Should broaden the perspective of the paper, sometimes even offering a new idea

Don’t forget the audience…  Many of you implied in your essays that when you write, what’s important is what you want to say.  That is important – but  think about it from the standpoint that you’re writing for an audience  always remember that it’s not what you want to say, it’s what the audience needs to hear.  This is especially important when we think of the rhetorical strategies and getting our point across.

 Remember that all writing needs to be edited  Don’t feel bad about creating “shitty first drafts” as Anne Lamott calls them  Take pride in what you write  Keep writing!